Chris Gohlke
01-31-2008, 01:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/01/liveblog-the-cb.html' target='_blank'>http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/01...log-the-cb.html</a><br /><br /></div><em>"Last.fm, the social media site acquired by CBS last May, now lets users play any song from the Big Four record labels and thousands of indie labels and artists up to three times, for free. At a press conference at CBS' headquarters Wednesday, executives revealed plans for Last.fm to become "the first website to offer free, global, on-demand access to the largest licensed catalog of music." CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves kicked off what he called a "groundbreaking" announcement by saying that the company had wondered, "Could this culture meld with our culture? And I'm pleased to say it did.... Community is clearly the future."" </em><br /><br /><img border="0" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1201735755.usr10.gif" alt="" /><br /><br />This is a great way to listen to full songs in a try before you buy scenario. As the article alludes to, a pairing with a MP3 music store could work out nicely. Right now there is no login requirement, but I bet that changes soon, since as the author noted, simply deleting your cookies (which lots of people do on a regular basis) resets the three listen count.